Chimpanzees combine pant hoots with food calls into larger structures

Leroux, Maël; Bosshard, Alexandra B.; Chandia, Bosco; Manser, Andri; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Townsend, Simon W.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.06.026

Cited by 39 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…To this end, contexts of vocal production require detailed analysis. While some chimpanzee single units have demonstrated context-specificity in previous studies (e.g., Crockford 41 ), the context-specificity of sequences remains largely uninvestigated (but see Leroux et al 44 ). In particular, whether the juxtaposition of single units into sequences leads to some meaning shifts is a promising area for future research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We do not assess meaning in this study, but it is important to note that chimpanzee single-unit use can show high context-specificity across a relatively broad range of contexts compared to other species, including alarm, hunting, feeding and greeting 40 for a review see Crockford 41 . Chimpanzees also use single units within numerous vocal sequences, not only in their loud calls—pant hoot 42 , 43 —but in sequences occurring in contexts such as feeding, nesting, fusion, greeting, and travel 39 , 40 , 44 . The acoustic structure of calls emitted within a vocal sequence show acoustic fidelity to the calls emitted singularly 44 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chimpanzees also use single units within numerous vocal sequences, not only in their loud calls—pant hoot 42 , 43 —but in sequences occurring in contexts such as feeding, nesting, fusion, greeting, and travel 39 , 40 , 44 . The acoustic structure of calls emitted within a vocal sequence show acoustic fidelity to the calls emitted singularly 44 . However, a quantitative approach to examining vocal sequence patterning has not been conducted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties

et al. 2022

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The origins of human language remains a major question in evolutionary science. Unique to human language is the capacity to flexibly recombine a limited sound set into words and hierarchical sequences, generating endlessly new sentences. In contrast, sequence production of other animals appears limited, stunting meaning generation potential. However, studies have rarely quantified flexibility and structure of vocal sequence production across the whole repertoire. Here, we used such an approach to examine the structure of vocal sequences in chimpanzees, known to combine calls used singly into longer sequences. Focusing on the structure of vocal sequences, we analysed 4826 recordings of 46 wild adult chimpanzees from Taï National Park. Chimpanzees produced 390 unique vocal sequences. Most vocal units emitted singly were also emitted in two-unit sequences (bigrams), which in turn were embedded into three-unit sequences (trigrams). Bigrams showed positional and transitional regularities within trigrams with certain bigrams predictably occurring in either head or tail positions in trigrams, and predictably co-occurring with specific other units. From a purely structural perspective, the capacity to organize single units into structured sequences offers a versatile system potentially suitable for expansive meaning generation. Further research must show to what extent these structural sequences signal predictable meanings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties

et al. 2022

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“…In chimpanzees, stone tool use (Carvalho et al, 2008; Sirianni et al, 2015), termite fishing (Deblauwe et al, 2006), and digging for underground bee nests (Estienne et al, 2017) have been analysed as complex sequences of individual decisions. Similarly, vocal patterns of bats (Bohn et al, 2009), birds (Berwick et al, 2011; Engesser et al, 2016; Sasahara et al, 2012; ten Cate, 2014), cetaceans (Allen et al, 2019), rock hyraxes (Kershenbaum et al, 2012), and primates (Arcadi, 1996; Arnold & Zuberbühler, 2008; Clarke et al, 2006; Girard-Buttoz et al, 2022; Leroux et al, 2021; Ouattara et al, 2009) have been described as temporal sequences with different degrees of predictability, combinatorial complexity, and hierarchical structure. This has often been related to the evolution of syntax (Zuberbühler, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzee play sequences are structured hierarchically as games

Mielke

Carvalho

2022

Preprint

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Social play is ubiquitous in the development of many animal species and involves players adapting actions flexibly to their own previous actions and partner responses. Play differs from other behavioural contexts for which fine-scale analyses of action sequences are available, such as tool use and communication, in that its form is not defined by its functions, making it potentially more unpredictable. In humans, play is often organised in games, where players know context-appropriate actions but string them together unpredictably. Here, we use the sequential nature of play elements to explore whether play elements in chimpanzees are structured hierarchically and follow predictable game-like patterns. Based on 5711 play elements from 143 bouts, we extracted individual-level play sequences of 11 Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of different ages from the Bossou community. We detected transition probabilities between play elements that exceeded expected levels and show that play elements form hierarchically clustered and interchangeable groups, indicative of at least six games that can be identified from transition networks, some with different roles for different players. We also show that increased information about preceding play elements improved predictability of subsequent elements, further indicating that play elements are not strung together randomly but that flexible action rules underlie their usage. Thus, chimpanzee play is hierarchically structured in short games which limit acceptable play elements and allow players to predict and adapt to partners' actions. This "grammar of action" approach to social interactions can be valuable in understanding cognitive and communicative abilities within and across species.

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“…However, it is unclear whether and to what extent those calls convey properties of a specific event to the audience (Crockford et al, 2015; Dezecache & Berthet, 2018; Dezecache et al, 2019). Regarding food-associated calls, previous studies suggest that call production is facilitated by larger food resources (Brosnan & de Waal, 2000; Hauser et al, 1993 [divisible food resources in particular]; Hauser & Wrangham, 1987; Leroux et al, 2021 [combinatorial use of calls in particular]; Slocombe et al, 2010; but see O’Bryan, 2015 for a null result) and more preferable types of food (Kalan & Boesch, 2015; Fedurek & Slocombe, 2013; but see O’Bryan, 2015 for an opposite result). Food-associated calls have been reported to attract other chimpanzees to a food patch, at least in some cases (Kalan & Boesch, 2015; O’Bryan et al, 2021; but see O’Bryan, 2015 for a null result).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit gaze bias for snakes upon hearing alarm calls.

Sato

Kano

Morimura

et al. 2022

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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Calls of several species of nonhuman animals are considered to be functionally referential. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying audience behaviors remain unclear. This study used an audiovisual cross-modal preferential-looking paradigm to examine whether captive chimpanzees spontaneously associated a conspecific call with images of a corresponding item. Chimpanzees were presented with videos of snakes and fruit side-by-side while hearing playbacks of alarm calls, food-associated calls, or no sound (as a baseline condition). Chimpanzees looked at videos of snakes for longer when hearing alarm calls compared with food calls or baseline. However, chimpanzees did not look at videos of fruit for longer when hearing food calls compared with baseline. An additional experiment tested whether chimpanzees' gaze bias to the snake videos was driven by negative affective states in general via affect-driven attention biases. When chimpanzees were presented with the same snake and fruit videos while hearing playbacks of conspecific screams or no sound, they exhibited no gaze bias for snake videos. These results suggest that chimpanzees spontaneously associated alarm calls with images of a potential threat in a preferential-looking experiment and that this response was not simply driven by an affective state matching process. These findings should be interpreted in consideration of a procedural limitation related to pseudoreplication in the experimental stimuli.

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Chimpanzees combine pant hoots with food calls into larger structures

Cited by 39 publications

References 45 publications

Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties

Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties

Chimpanzee play sequences are structured hierarchically as games

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit gaze bias for snakes upon hearing alarm calls.

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